Napoli scratched with foot injury

BOSTON -- Mike Napoli was scratched from the Red Sox lineup on Saturday with what manager John Farrell called "a left foot ailment."

By Tim Britton

BOSTON -- Mike Napoli was scratched from the Red Sox lineup on Saturday with what manager John Farrell called "a left foot ailment."

Farrell said the injury "in the plantar fascia area" is something that has been bothering Napoli for some time.

"Something he's been dealing with for quite some time and aggravated it last night on that double," Farrell said. "So when he came in today, just felt like he needs a day down at a minimum."

Napoli did get up slowly after belly-flopping into second on his ninth-inning double.

General manager Ben Cherington said the injury "didn't seem serious."

"We'll see how it goes and what it feels like today," Cherington said.

Even as Napoli has been dealing with the foot injury "for a little bit of time," Farrell doesn't think it has caused his struggles at the plate.

"I can't say that it's caused his swing to be less aggressive or it's caused him to not hit from a more powerful base," Farrell said. "It's something he's been dealing with, but he has not expressed that as being a reason for some of the streaks he's experienced."

Over his last 19 games, Napoli has just 10 hits in 69 at-bats, with an alarming 30 strikeouts. He has only one home run in that span, although it was a game-tying one in Toronto.

Although an injury is never a good thing, the timing of this one isn't as detrimental to the Red Sox as it normally would be. With Boston slated to hit the road for a six-game road trip to National League cities, Napoli was likely to be on the bench more often than not next week, with David Ortiz getting time at first base.

With Napoli scratched Saturday, Shane Victorino was placed back into the lineup. Victorino, who exited Friday night's game an inning early, was originally out of the lineup. Farrell called it a regular down day for the outfielder, who has been dealing with an ailing hamstring that has prevented him from hitting from the left side.

Mike Carp shifted from left field to first base in the starting lineup.